IRAQ
Iraq attacks kill at least 282 in June

Baghdad: Attacks in Iraq killed at least 282 people in June, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources, though official figures put the death toll at less than half that number.

At least 282 people were killed across Iraq from June 1 through June 30, according to the AFP tally, while figures compiled by the Iraqi ministries of health, interior and defence showed that 131 Iraqis - 85 civilians, 26 police and 20 soldiers — died in violence last month.

That compared with 132 deaths in May, according to official figures.

The official figures put the number of wounded at 269 — 111 civilians, 99 police and 59 soldiers, while 11 insurgents were killed, and 100 arrested.

Iraq was hit by a wave of attacks in June.

A suicide bombing against the headquarters of the Shiite endowment, which oversees Shiite religious sites in Iraq, killed at least 25 people on June 4, while attacks across Iraq on June 13 left 72 people dead.

Two car bombs targeting Shiites commemorating Imam Kadhim’s death killed 32 people in the capital on June 16, while a suicide bomber killed 22 people in an attack on Shiite mourners in Baqouba, north of Baghdad, on June 18.

That attack came on the same day that Sami Al Massudi, the deputy head of the Shiite endowment which oversees Shiite religious sites in Iraq, said a roadside bomb hit his convoy in the Saidiyah area of south Baghdad, wounding three guards.

At least 12 people were killed by roadside bombs, a suicide car bomb and a shooting on June 22, while two bombings killed 12 people on June 25.

On Wednesday, three bombings killed 11 people, and series of attacks on Thursday killed 20.

Bombings and shootings killed 13 people on Friday, and 11 more on Saturday.

While violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006-2007, attacks remain common across the country.